Iain Martin is a political commentator, and a former editor of The Scotsman and former deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph. He is the author of Making It Happen: Fred Goodwin, RBS and the men who blew up the British economy, published by Simon & Schuster.. As well as this blog, he writes a column for The Sunday Telegraph. You can read more about Iain by visiting his website

Tom Harris quitting is a real shame

If you cannot bear to see a word written in defence of politicians or particular politicians, please look away now. Look, over there, on Twitter or talk radio. Right now someone is saying that they are all scumbags, and they lie and they lie and they lie. Did I mention that they lie? And they are all traitors too. And they are too young (even the older ones).

No, for all my weary journalistic scepticism and disappointed idealist shtick, I don't buy the destructive nihilism that is fashionable (except when it comes to Nick Clegg). There are decent people in politics. There are still quite a few of them.

And in that spirit, my reaction when I read the Telegraph revelation that Tom Harris has resigned from the Labour front-bench was straightforward non-party disappointment. Harris is someone with ideas and a sense of humour. He even understands the internet. It is people like him who are needed in greater numbers on both front-benches at Westminster, and yet it is becoming steadily more difficult to persuade them that it is worth the effort.

Harris hasn't stormed out in a fit of pique over a particular policy, or because Ed Miliband won't promote him from a lowly position in the shadow Defra team. He explains that he can handle the pressure of being an MP. However, the extra days in London that being a shadow minister requires impact too much on the life of his young family. As he says, he doesn't like the heat and he is getting out of the shadow cabinet kitchen.

It is hugely to the credit of Tom Harris that he hasn't used his experience to demand that politics is reformed to suit him. As he points out, those who leave in such circumstances often want Parliament moved around the country so that it can be nearer their house for some of the year, or they want the Commons only to meet when it suits them.

This is not a new problem. Even decent MPs have always moaned about the impact on their families. I'm just finishing reading an excellent biography of James Morrison, an entrepreneur from the 19th century who rose from humble origins, built the greatest fortune of the age in retailing, became a patron of the arts, purchased some of Turner's paintings and tried Parliament several times only to discover that he hated the late-night sittings and the way it took him away from his beloved family.

Hard cheese, I hear you say. Yes, perhaps. Parliament, if it is to hold the executive to account, needs obsessive individuals prepared to do what the rest of us wouldn't do in terms of sacrificing time. But sometimes those obsessive individuals have an even bigger obsession, which is … themselves. This creates a tension. Not only do we have to be on the look out for those who are in it for themselves, we also want two things simultaneously. We want MPs to be different from the rest of us, so they might obsessively do their weird job, while simultaneously wanting them to be just like us.

I hope that the decision by Tom Harris is not a prelude to him stepping down at the next election. We must, must, must get away from this modern idea that a Westminster career is a ten of 15 year event, and that if you haven't cracked it you step down even if the electorate hasn't flung you out. In the past people endured all sorts of defeats and resignations, learnt lessons, tried again and rose to serve. Harold Macmillan first became an MP in 1924. He lost his seat in 1929 and then won it back a couple of years later. He suffered all sorts of tribulations – some of them self-inflicted. He might have been flung out of the Tory party for almost becoming a socialist. His career was done for, and then Churchill rescued him and spotted that he would be useful in North Africa and the Middle East in the war. After a glorious spell, liaising with the Americans and enjoying cabinet status, he promptly lost his seat in the 1945 landslide. He found another, in Kent, and through it was introduced to the emerging lower middle class, got back into the cabinet, and eventually became Prime Minister in 1957, 33 years after he arrived at Westminster.

No, I am not saying Tom Harris is Labour's Harold Macmillan. The moustache and the double-breasted tailoring simply wouldn't suit him. But I hope he stays in the Commons and a few years down the line gives the front-bench another go.